{"id":478,"date":"2014-11-23T12:36:19","date_gmt":"2014-11-23T17:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carleton.ca\/socanth\/?post_type=cu_people&#038;p=478"},"modified":"2025-06-10T09:23:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T13:23:43","slug":"mire-amina","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/people\/mire-amina\/","title":{"rendered":"Amina Mire"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"mb-6 cu-pageheader cu-component-updated md:mb-12\">\n    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 pb-5 after:w-10 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px\">\n                    \n             \n                \n            <\/h1>\n\n    \n    <\/header>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"areas-of-research-interest\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Areas of Research Interest<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Interdisciplinary analysis and critical research in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Women and health;<\/li><li>Racialization and biomedicalization of women\u2019s bodies and skin;<\/li><li>Anti-ageing;<\/li><li>Women, science and technology;<\/li><li>Political thought;<\/li><li>Sociology of gender;<\/li><li>Sociology of knowledge;<\/li><li>Gender and the cinema;<\/li><li>Anti-racist\/anti-colonial research.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"current-research-projects\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Current Research Projects<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Women and Health: Anti-ageing and the biomedicalization of women\u2019s bodies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This current research project uses an interdisciplinary analytic framework to examine the social, ethical, political and pedagogical implications of anti-ageing discourse and practice. The research focuses its analysis on global trends in nanotechnological and biotechnological innovation. The nano and biotech innovations that are they keystones of this industry purport to shield women\u2019s bodies and skin from the harmful effects of ageing, environmental pollutants and bad lifestyles. One of the ongoing research questions for this project is to explore the discursive processes and concrete practices through which ageing in women came to be constituted as pathological. A second research question examines how the biomedicalization of ageing relates to the globalization of the emerging anti-ageing industry, the social imperatives of scientific consumerism, and the wellness lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>From Anti-ageing to Armoured Women<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another main objective of this research is to investigate the extent to which the female body continues to be a contested site of social investment and regulation. Specifically, this research interrogates societal investments in \u201cshielding\u201d and \u201cprotecting\u201d the vulnerable female body. This research seeks to problematize the biomedical discourse of the vulnerable female body in the anti-ageing market by looking at the history of women and war and the dread of the militarized maternal body. The aim is to generate broader theoretical insights and useful methodological knowledge accessible to policy makers, health practitioners and the general public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Globalization of the Skin-whitening Industry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This research project examines changing skin-whitening technologies by tracing their emergence from colonial encounters in which white skin was accorded social and cultural capital, toward the contemporary global marketing of biotechnology products that promise smooth, brightened and youthful-looking skin to affluent women. It draws upon interdisciplinary feminist and anti-racist analyses to examine medical literature and web-based advertisements by pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies, and to analyze research partnerships between public universities and private corporations. It examines the interlocking discourses of academic capitalism, scientific entrepreneurship and cutting-edge scientific discoveries in molecular biology and the life sciences that facilitate the development and dissemination of new and powerful skin-whitening biotechnologies on a global scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"recent-and-selected-publications\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Recent and Selected Publications<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>2025.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/rowman.com\/ISBN\/9781666907681\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">From Antebellum Light Skinned Slaves to the Globalization of Skin Whitening Biotechnology<\/a>. Lexington Books (Rowlan &amp; Littlefield).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2021. <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ho0NUlGs6TU\" target=\"_blank\">Ursula Franklin\u2019s Earthworms Theory for Social Change<\/a>. TEDX Carleton University Colloquium (April 28, 2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2020. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestar.com\/podcasts\/thismatters\/2020\/09\/02\/the-truth-behind-the-racist-message-in-skin-whitening-creams.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The truth behind the racist message in skin \u2018whitening\u2019 creams<\/a>. Toronto Star. (Interview).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2020. <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/what-you-need-to-know-about-rebranded-skin-whitening-creams-143049\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What you need to know about rebranded skin-whitening creams<\/a>. The Conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2019 (Open Access). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crcpress.com\/Wellness-in-Whiteness-Open-Access-Biomedicalisation-and-the-Promotion\/Mire\/p\/book\/9780815377443\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wellness in Whiteness: Biomedicalisation and the Promotion of Whiteness and Youth among Women<\/a>. Routledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2017. Otherness and Stigmatized Whiteness: Skin Whitening, Vitiligo and Albinism in Anthropology and Alterity. Dr. Bernhard Leistle, (Ed.) (pp.124-147) New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2014. \u2018Skin Trade:\u2019 Genealogy of Anti-ageing \u2018Whiteness Therapy\u2019 in Colonial Medicine. Medicine Studies 4 (1-4):119-129.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2012. The Scientification of Skin Whitening and the Entrepreneurial University-Linked Corporate Scientific Officer. Canadian Journal for Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education 12(3): 271-291.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2011. Militarization of Somalia and the Geopolitics of War on Sea Piracy in Somali International Rehabilitation Centre (SIRC), The Role of Democratic Governance versus Sectarian Politics in Somalia: 9th Annual Horn of Africa Conference and book project on the Horn of Africa. Ulf Johansson Dahre, ed. Lund, Sweden: Media Printing Center of Lund University, pp 175 \u2013 184.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2009. <em>A Euro Vision of Beauty? The Growing Skin Whitening Industry.<\/em> Science\u2019s Last Taboo. Channel Four Television Corporation (UK).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2007. Ethiopia\u2019s Invasion of Somalia has U.S. Fingerprints. New Internationalist. (March, p. 23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2005. Pigmentation and Empire: The Emerging Skin-Whitening Industry. In Counterpunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2002. The Genealogy of Witchcraft: Colonialism and Modern Science. Postmodernism, Postcoloniality and African Studies. Zine Magubane, ed. New Jersey USA Africa World Press Inc, pp. 80 \u2013 97.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2001. Skin-Bleaching: Poison, Beauty, Power, and the Politics of the Colour Line. Resources For Feminist Research 28(3+4): 13-38.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9874,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cu_people_first_name":"Amina","cu_people_last_name":"Mire","cu_people_initials":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_people_type":[39],"cu_people_expertise":[],"class_list":["post-478","cu_people","type-cu_people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_people_type-sociology-faculty"],"acf":{"cu_people_job_title":"Associate Professor","cu_people_degree":"PhD Sociology, Minor in Women\u2019s Studies and Gender Studies (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), MA Philosophy (University of Toronto), BSc Chemistry (University of Winnipeg), BA Philosophy (University of Winnipeg), Diploma, Assistant Pharmacy (Somali Health Personnel Training Institute)","cu_building":false,"cu_people_office_num":"","cu_people_pronoun":"none","cu_people_designation":"","cu_people_email":"amina.mire@carleton.ca","cu_people_phone":"","cu_people_phone_ext":"4476","cu_people_linkedin":"","cu_people_bluesky":"","cu_people_twitter":"","cu_people_instagram":"","cu_people_facebook":"","cu_people_website":"","cu_people_orcid":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_people"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31678,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/478\/revisions\/31678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_people_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_type?post=478"},{"taxonomy":"cu_people_expertise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_expertise?post=478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}